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Secret Service chief briefs Obama

President Barack Obama was briefed Friday by the Secret Service director about the agency’s Colombian prostitution scandal, as another three agency employees left their jobs and two people were added to the investigations being conducted by the Secret Service and the military.

A senior White House official confirmed to POLITICO that Obama met Mark Sullivan on Friday afternoon in the Oval Office to discuss the ongoing investigation.

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W.H. on Secret Service, Palin

The meeting came as three more Secret Service employees involved in the scandal resigned their jobs under pressure, assistant director Paul Morrissey said in a statement. In all, six employees have left the agency. The Secret Service also added another employee to its investigation, bringing the total under scrutiny to 12.

The Secret Service has also added another employee to its investigation, bringing to 12 the total number of employees believed to have engaged in misconduct last week in Cartagena ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit there for the Summit of the Americas. The employee has been placed on administrative leave and had his security clearance suspended.

One of the employees who was part of the original 11 implicated in the scandal “has been cleared of serious misconduct, but will face appropriate administrative action,” Morrissey said. In all, five agency employees are on administrative leave.

“The Secret Service continues to conduct a full, thorough and fair investigation, utilizing all investigative techniques available to our agency,” Morrissey said. “Since these allegations were first reported, the Secret Service has actively pursued this investigation, and has acted to ensure that appropriate action is affected. We demand that all of our employees adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards and are committed to a full review of this matter.”

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said Friday that it is investigating 11 members of the military, up from the 10 it had previously identified. The U.S. Southern Command last Saturday had originally pegged the number of military personnel involved at five.

Six are members of the Army in the 7th Special Forces Group, which has headquarters at Eglin Air Force Base outside Valparaiso, Fla. Two each are from the Marines and the Navy, and one is from the Air Force. The Marines and Navy personnel are based in San Diego, and the Air Force member is based in Charleston, S.C.

The first three Secret Service employees left on Wednesday. One supervisor, who’s since been identified as David Chaney, chose to retire under pressure, while another, Greg Stokes, was notified that he will be fired, though he has a right to contest the action. The third employee is a more junior member of the agency who chose to resign.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said earlier Friday that, despite the scandal, “the president has high regard for the agency.” As of then, Obama had yet to meet with Sullivan.

Carney also responded to criticism from Republicans including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, saying it was “preposterous to politicize” the issue.

Readers' Comments (44)

Well, in view of what it is costing these guys, I hope at least it was really good.

If you figure up the lost salaries and probably retirement for some of these guys, not to mention having to explain all this (how can you explain it?) to wives, girlfriends and children, thess have been a very expensive get-togethers with the local women in Colombia.

People in such positions should always engage the brain before acting. It saves a lot of heartache (and it could allow you to keep your job).

Some of them might have once worked protecting Bill Clinton, so they might have the defense that they inadvertantly picked up some of their then-boss's habits.

Dan Bongino, the republican nominee for US senator in Maryland, is a former SS agent. His brother, also a SS agent, in involved in the prostitution scandal in Columbia. Dan Bongino did an interview where he said he personally knew every one of the SS agents involved.

Where was the W.H. advance team in Cartagena? Jay Carney said "He has not heard as of yet" about the W.H. staff advance team. Were they with the security advance team? Don't they work together? This story will get bigger.

A senior White House official confirmed to POLITICO that Obama met Mark Sullivan on Friday afternoon in the Oval Office to discuss the ongoing investigation.

How many times has President Obama met with Mark Sullivan (the one who's the director of the Secret Service) privately since he became president? As many times as he has met with , oh say, Hilary Rosen, (the one who made the remark about Ann Romney)?

How many members of the press were staying at that *****hotel while these shenanigans were going on and who were they? Have they been interviewed? And would we have ever heard about it from any of them if they knew about it?...before they wrote their blockbuster tell- all books that is?